WASHINGTON — President Obama not only made a little news at his annual year-end news conference Friday, he appears to have made history.

For the first time in recent memory, the president called only on female journalists – eight in a row – during an extended question-and-answer session at the White House. The lineup appeared to be a landmark moment for a press corps with a history of being a boys’ club, where high-profile female correspondents were the exception, not the rule.

Friday was a reminder of how much has changed. The president began with a question from Carrie Budoff Brown of Politico and continued with reporters from Bloomberg BNA, Associated Press, McClatchy Newspapers, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and American Urban Radio Networks. All were women. The group represented a mix of major news outlets and smaller organizations. Notably, television correspondents, who sometimes dominate the news conferences and daily media briefings, were shut out.

Though at least one brief news conference overseas saw one or two questions from only women, for a formal session at the White House, this appeared to be the first.

“In my 40 years, I’m sure there was never a full news conference where only women were called on,” said ABC News’ Ann Compton, who retired this year. Compton said the choices were also notable because they represented “core White House regulars” – beat reporters who cover the president full time.

The list of reporters the president calls on at formal news conferences is often predetermined by the White House and given to the president as a list. (On Friday, Obama described it as the “Who’s been naughty, and who’s been nice” list.)

One White House official said the choices were made by White House press secretary Josh Earnest.

Earnest notified television networks that they would be left out to give other outlets opportunities to question the president.


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